Beware: Salon Installs CryptoMining Software

It's no secret that Salon is hard up these days. They've literally been having difficulties keeping the doors open and lights on in their San Francisco headquarters. As a result they're using some, eh, interesting and novel ways to shore up the deficit. One way is by offering to "suppress ads" if you're willing to let them leach your computer's "unused computing power."

Salon at least admitted to what they were doing. "Nothing is ever installed on your computer and Salon never has access to your personal information or files." Then goes into the "myth of using 10% of our brain" as an example of how it's really no big deal. They liken it to "borrowing your calculator for a few minutes to figure out math problems." Yeah, but what if everytime you "borrow my calculator" it runs up my electric bill, overworks my processor and could even damage my hardware? Still want to loan out that calculator?

Further down in the fine print, Salon answers what may become a "Frequently Asked Question" to users who allow "their calculator to be borrowed." They admit that your fans may be turned on due to the CPU being forced into extensive processing.

CoinHive has been used in the past to defraud the unwary, but Salon is the first major website to use the software. Worried? Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray on Twitter), entertainment media, gaming, politics and pop culture journalist recommends installing "NoCoin."